Berliner Fat Tire Bike Tour: Siegessäule/Victory Tower, Reichstag, Museum Island and the Brandenburg Gate

Third installment of the Berliner Fat Tire Bike Tour posts (post 1) (post 2).

July 9, 2016:

We tempered our disappointment about the lack of naked people and continued our ride through the park. I love public parks and this one is enormous and leafy and beautiful. Our next stop was the Siegessäule, or Berlin Victory Tower.

When Otto von Bismarck wanted to unify Germany, he thought the best way to do so would be to go to war with surrounding nations. Each layer of the victory tower is representative of a victory against a different nation - first the Danish, then the Austrians, and the phallic tower in the middle was to represent their victory against the French. The bronze statue of Victoria at the top is facing in the direction of Paris. Each of the cannons was seized in France, dragged across Germany to Berlin where it was painted gold and set up in rings around the tower. Apparently, the top of the tower is one of the best views of Berlin, and you can only get to it through tunnels that cross the roundabout underground. Each of the four entrances was also the site of a guard tower during the Nazi regime, and those towers are still there, pockmarked with bullet holes, representing the last of the Albert Speer's architecture (that well-known Nazi haha).

Hitler was an amateur architect, and his vision for the city, if the war had succeeded was to mimic the Champs-Élysées in France. The Siegessäule was at the centre of the Tiergarten, and the street leading from it to the Brandenburg Gate, the Straße de 17. Juni, is large and tree-lined. It was closed while we were there so that Berliners could watch the EuroCup on large screens along the street.

The Brandenberger Toris one of the most well-known landmarks in Germany. Originally, it was built as a symbol of peace. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon liked the Quadriga (chariot) featuring Eirene (the goddess of Peace) on the top so much that he dragged it across Europe to the Louvre as part of his victory procession. When the Germans defeated France during the Franco-Prussian war, Otto von Bismarck brought it back and Eirene was replaced with Victoria, goddess of Victory, and added the symbol of Germany, the eagle. They renamed the square to Pariserplatz, literally "Paris Place" so that Germany could always look down on Paris in victory.

The head of Victoria is turned to face the French Embassy which is still located in the square. The Germans certainly have a sense of humour when it comes to France. During WWII, the gate was heavily bombed and has been restored, and during the Cold War, it was located in the No Man's Land between the two sides of the Berlin Wall. When the Wall was taken down, the gate became a symbol of reunification and freedom.

The gate is located one block from the Reichstag - German parliament. Neil explained that when Hitler rose to power, there was a fire in the Reichstag building that was blamed on a young man, recently arrived to Germany, who was a Dutch council communist. He was arrested near the scene of the fire. The Nazis used this as an opportunity to demonstrate that Communists were plotting against the government, and Hitler, as Chancellor, was able to convince the "President Paul von Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree to suspend civil liberties in order to counter the ruthless confrontation of the Communist Party of Germany" (Wikipedia). This resulted in the mass arrests of communists including all of the Communist party delegates in Parliament. "With their bitter rival communists gone and their seats empty, the Nazi Party went from being a plurality party to the majority, thus enabling Hitler to consolidate his power." Some historians, including our tour guide, believe that the Nazi party planned and executed the fires in order to increase their power. More than one fire was set at the same time and could not have been done by one man. It's also said that this man had a history of confessing to crimes he did not commit and was mentally unstable. Hitler never set foot in the Reichstag building after his election as Chancellor.

The current German Parliament has been reconstructed with a theme of transparency. Many of the buildings are made mostly of glass, and the articles of the Constitution are displayed as you pass them.

The last part of our tour was to pass Museum Island, which is, SURPRISE!, an island with most of the city's museums (#GermansNameThings). The Altes Museum, or "Old Museum", is the museum with the oldest artifacts from Ancient Greece and Rome. Neues Museum, or "New Museum", is the museum with artifacts from Egypt, including the bust of Nefertiti. There is also a coin collection museum which sounds like fun.

Right next to Museum Island is the Royal Cathedral, which is a classic example of the restoration efforts to make buildings look older than they are.

The sides of the building was burned after it was restored. The only original pieces on the Cathedral, as usual, are the statues which look mostly black.

As a result of WWI, the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires no longer exist, and so in 1918, "the German empire was abolished and replaced by the Weimar Republic. After the outbreak of the German revolution in 1918, both Emperor Wilhelm II and Crown Prince Wilhelm signed the document of abdication." (Wikipedia)

Neil told us that although Germany no longer has a Royal family, German taxpayers are currently footing the bill for the reconstruction of the Royal Palace with a price tag of 1 billion Euro. Originally, it was going to be funded by investors, all of whom have since backed out. It is a little baffling that, at a time when many countries in the EU are struggling with austerity measures, riots, protests, and the influx of Syrian refugees, the German Parliament approved a 1 billion Euro palace for which the purpose is unclear.

At the end of the tour, I returned to the hostel in search of something to eat, and came across momos, an organic vegetarian dumpling restaurant. All I can hope is that one day, they will expand as a franchise to Hamilton.

As days go, this one was satisfying, educational, and exhausting. I considered going out to listen to some jazz music to spite Hitler, or to try to find a swing dancing scene in Berlin, but the thought of going out at night on my own was daunting after my experiences walking back to my hostel in Munich, and I opted to read a little before tucking myself in for a well-deserved rest.